1971 Bangladesh Genocide

 1971 Bangladesh Genocide - 

The genocide in Bangladesh began on 26 March 1971 with the launch of Operation Searchlight, as West Pakistan began a military crackdown on the Eastern wing of the nation to suppress Bengali calls for self-determination rights.

During the nine-month-long Bangladesh War for Liberation, members of the Pakistani military and supporting Islamist militias from Jamaat-e-Islami killed between 300,000 and 3,000,000 people and raped between 200,000 and 400,000 Bangladeshi women according to Bangladeshi and Indian sources, in a systematic campaign of genocidal rape.

The actions against women were supported by Muslim religious leaders, who declared that Bengali women were gonimoter maal (public property). As a result of the conflict, a further eight to ten million people, mostly Hindus, fled the country at the time to seek refuge in neighbouring India. It is estimated that up to 30 million civilians became internally displaced.